Wayne Dawkins accompanied BP1 athletes and staff to a familiar stomping ground: Eastern Michigan University where Wayne Dawkins - Director of Operations at BP1/Bond Academy in Scarborough, ON, Canada was given a full basketball scholarship. Mr. Dawkins currently has one alumni playing for the 2019/2020 Eagles season: Boubacar Toure a 7ft Sr. who is the top rated center in the Mid-American Conference.
"We encourage our athletes to set goals and work towards them every day but without putting them in situations that make it real it can be difficult for a child to understand that it is possible. The trip to Eastern Michigan gave them a behind the scenes glimpse at what life is like at to be a Division I NCAA basketball player." - Wayne Dawkins, BP1 Director
After the EMU Eagles beat Valparaiso 85-79. The athletes received a tour of the EMU facilities. They got a chance to visit the team's locker room and met several of the players including EMU's star player Boubacar Toure.
The athlete's also visited the weight room and nutrition room where they had chance to meet and get pointers from EMU's lead strength trainer and nutritionist.
"How often do you get the chance to walk in your future steps? We even got to walk around on the court once the game was over. It was amazing to see up close how fast the game is and how big those guys are! But after seeing it I know I can play with them...just need to keep working hard." - Elijah Anderson, BP1 Sr. PG
At BP1 we want our athlete to experience what all levels of post secondary basketball looks, smells and sounds like! Next the boys will take a trip to Hamilton, Ontario on February 19, 2020 to visit another Wayne Dawkins/P.H.A.S.E. 1 alumni Patrick Tatham, Head Coach of McMaster University a U-Sports (Canadian University) men's team as they host the first round of play-offs.
Thank you to all the BP1 and Bond Academy staff for making these trips possible!